Circling Taiwan Swirl - Soap Challenge Club (January 2016 entry)

Hello everyone,

This is my second Soap Challenge Club (first one December entry with Impression Mat technique is here and its continuation for how I made my 3D model for silicone mat is here). As I’m at my beginnings, this month technique is new for me as well as many others))) So, for Circling Taiwan Swirl it is my first time:

•       Doing this technique 
•       Working with dividers

As for soapmaking in common I decided to try:

• mica-dividers technique (as Teresa Mahoney is doing)
•   Anne L. Watson’s way to tell that batter is ready to pour which is hers temperature method (I found it in her book Smart Soapmaking)
• Elaine Wright’s method of cleaning up soap (may be found on her YouTube channel)
• Ghost swirl first done by my “soapmaking God” Mrs. Clara Lindberg
• Big superfatting (10%) – I made my soaps normally 6-7%
• Using clay or salt to “lock” the scent inside the soap. Preparing to do my next one salt bar I found information that some folks “lock” the scent by putting EOs in salt for the salt bars or in clay or similar things. I decided to try it.

 Made 4 batches of soap only because my lye ended)))))) really))) as well as almost all my EOs. I liked this technique very much, it is easy to do and the result is fabulous.

First one soap and my entry this month is this one peppermint (I have called it Minty Lotus). I made it bastille type (olive, coconut and castor oils), SF 6% here, scented with lavender, peppermint and tea tree EOs. Also some clay for locking EOs.

After pouring:

Just cut:

 

 

I checked the temperature after putting together oils and lye and poured after the temperature raised by 1°C (really short blendmixing and mixing with spatula). I was working at some 45°C.

I used Elaine Wright’s soap cleaning up method. Here  are compared cleaned and uncleaned soaps

 

And here cleaned up:

 

 

The second soap was not made for the Challenge))) our family was just lack of salt soap so I made my favorite one and trained the technique. I didn’t want to show it at all, but a very interesting thing happened, so I decided to write about it.

I used coconut, shea and some castor oil, 20% SF, eucalyptus and chlorella for scenting and coloring as well “locked” in Himalayan salt. Also I wanted to try a mica on one of the dividers. I had prepared everything a began to wait my lye became cool. Mainly I work at nights because of my baby girl. But this time she decided that  I need an HOUR break with my soaping…so when finally she went asleep again, my oils and lye were 30°C… Late at night I could not blendmix, so I started whisking my mixture…as the temperature was after some 3-4 minutes 29°C, I decided that I would risk and pour it… because there were nothing I could do with it (as a beginner I don’t know what to do in low temperature situation…) So I poured it, swirled and now having normal soap…and that was surprise for me in the morning… Another one interesting thing is that my DYI dividers were really flowing up while I was pouring salt batter…

I like using cleaning up method for salt bars.

So too many words and result is Salty Chlorela Soap:

 

 

I was disappointed that mica line was not that good as I wanted it to be (as there were non in the middle of the soap))) 

and I used this out of guidelines of the Challenge technique again. Third soap “I love yellow” (coconut, olive, cocoa, shea, babassu and castor oils, SF 10%) with lemongrass “locked” in some kaolin. It was a soap where I tried doing narrow and wide swirls in one batch. I like wide ones, my almost husband - narrow ones. 

Just poured:

Cutting:

Cleaned up by Elain Wright method again.

The last one soap is a really experimental one ("Ghost unlimited") . I wanted to have those mica lines in my soap))) so I wanted to try with no colors at all.. but then I got the idea that I may use Clara Lindberg’s Ghost swirl and mica dividers.. So now I have one. Olive, coconut and palm oils, SF 10%. Water 2.5 and 1.5.

Just poured:

Cutting:

And cleaned:

And all soaps together:

 Good luck to you all and many thanks belongs to Amy Warden for the Challenge.

Nasta

UPD: Mica lines details:

ImpressionMat – Soap Challenge Club December 2015

How to makeyour own 3 D model for silicon impression mat